Sidney D. Light's WWI Diary, Postcards & Letters, 329th Battery Book Accounts

Charlotte Light

Charlotte on right

In June of 1917, the commander of an American Expeditionary Force, General John J. Pershing, had arrived in France with one division and two Marine brigades, the most the Army could pull together in the early days. It would be almost a year before the first large wave of conscript soldiers were trained and could be sent to France. By the end of the war, the number of American soldiers would reach three million.

Charlotte was working at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and was sent to France as an army nurse in the Harper Unit. She arrived in France on July 31, 1917 and remained in France until mid-January, 1918.

Clinton Chilson:

Fighter pilot, Captain in Air Service

When America entered the war--because of patent right battles--it lagged behind the rest of the world in actual plane development. The U.S. had only two functional military planes and no American capable of designing modern aircraft. DeHaveland would begin building an American fighter, based on a European design, but only 200 would actually arrive in France before the end of the war. American pilots fought in European planes.

Clint would be trained at Michigan State University, where pilots gained preliminary flying skills using Jenny's. On arrival in France, pilots would undergo further training, to acclimate to European fighter planes and gain battle skills.

Clint Chilson and Charlotte Light knew each other from Detroit, through Charlotte arrived in France before Clint finished his training. They would marry after the war.

Frederick Hollister Light

Served in the Air Squadron,

41st Observation Squadron

as a machine gunner, from 1917

to the end of the war.

Fred married after the war, but had no children. Further records are not available.